Customizing the custom loop wordcamp 2012-jeff

Welcome Customizing the Custom LoopCode: http://github.com/jmarx/Wordcamp-NYC-2012

Meet the guysAlexander Sapountzis Jeff Marx•Worked with • Worked with WordPress for 2 Years WordPress for 7 years•Worked at Bloomberg • Worked at Gannett Businessweek Newspapers•Hes the one with the • Not the guy from the beard Sopranos (even though he looks like him)

What is CBS Local? Network of local sites for news and media, consolidating CBS media content •Radio •TV •News •Original Content www.cbslocal.com

We use WordPress!

After the five-minute install You get a cool theme  Single Column  Sidebar  ...but its boring We need to customize this so its cool!

What comes next?• Featured Posts• Category Boxes• Cool stuff• Not boring!

How do we do this? (pay attention, this will be on the test)

The Global Query• Runs once on every page• Returns all relevant posts based on params o Home Page Query returns all posts o Category Page Query returns all for that category o Single Post Page Query returns a single, lonely post• Global query feeds default loop o default loop is hard coded on theme template files and contains post information from the global query• This comes built into WordPress

WordPress does all this for free...whats the problem? Why bother with custom loops?Because you may need to:•Categorize content•use Custom Post Types•not have a boring site

Introduce The Loops• query_posts()• WP_Query• get_posts()Each is used in different ways, but you really only need one: WP_Query

query_posts()• Modifies the Global Query (thats bad)• Can cause unpredictable behavior• Will very likely be removed from WordPress (we hope soon)• Ignore tutorials that use thisRemember: using query_posts() is like trying to hammer a nail in with your forehead; painful and messy

get_posts()• Safer but not ideal• Limited - Not as powerful or useful• Some template tags are not includedThis is like the little brother of WP_Query. It uses WP_Query behind the scenes, but hides quite a bit from you

WP_Query• Returns everything you need• Template tags will work• Plays nice with the Global Query• High in fiber http://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query query_posts() and get_posts() actually use this internally, but either do other things that you dont want or won’t give you what you want. Cut out the middle man!

Standard LoopExamples of the standard loop (before we make it all fancy)https:// github.com/jmarx/Wordcamp-NYC-2012/blob/master

Custom Loop Examples Homepage: https:// github.com/jmarx/Wordcamp-NYC-2012/blob/master/twenty Sidebar: https:// github.com/jmarx/Wordcamp-NYC-2012/blob/master/twenty Page https:// github.com/jmarx/Wordcamp-NYC-2012/blob/master/twenty

Performance Gotchas• Use caching and transients to improve performance• Limits load by minimizing database calls• Always cache your site when using custom loops!Links:http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/w3-total-cache/http://codex.wordpress.org/Transients_API

Got Questions?@jeffreymarx@asapountzisCode Samples/Resources:https://github.com/jmarx/Wordcamp-NYC-2012

Customizing the custom loop wordcamp 2012-jeff

by Alexander Sapountzis on Jun 14, 2012

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